Most of the NCAA Tournament talk these days is about No. 1 seeds and big-name schools on the bubble.

The former is merely a status symbol, and the latter changes almost daily (yesterday, Kentucky was out; today, it's in; tomorrow, who knows?).

Attention should be paid to four schools from traditional one-bid conferences that have an outside shot at getting at-large berths if they don't win their conference tournaments:

-- Belmont, Ohio Valley (22-6): The Bruins have an RPI of 23, and an RPI that strong typically means automatic inclusion in the NCAAs, but a 29-point loss at Kansas is ugly.

-- Middle Tennessee, Sun Belt (25-4): The Blue Raiders have won 14 straight, and their No. 27 RPI and victory over Mississippi are impressive. They lost at Florida by 21, but Wisconsin and Missouri had similar losses in Gainesville.

-- Akron, Mid-American (22-4): The Zips own the nation's longest winning streak at 18, are No. 24 in the coaches poll. An RPI of 48 with no signature wins won't help, but they do have a 14-point victory over Ohio, which has virtually the same team that upset Michigan and nearly beat North Carolina in last year's NCAA Tournament. The Zips play at Ohio on Wednesday.

-- Louisiana Tech, Western Athletic (24-3): The Bulldogs have won 16 in a row, beat the only top-50 RPI team they've played (Southern Miss) and are ranked 25th in the Associated Press poll.

Bottom line: The selection committee doesn't care about the polls, and all four probably will land in the NIT if they lose in their conference tournaments.

The 'Williams' list

-- Kendall Williams, New Mexico: He scored 46 points, hitting 10 of 13 three-point tries, in a 91-82 victory that ended Colorado State's 27-game home winning streak. Rams head coach Larry Eustachy said he thought Williams was contested on all 10 three-point baskets. An arena janitor toting a trash can and broom pulled Williams aside immediately after the game to say he'd never seen anything like it.

-- Coach Roy Williams, North Carolina: The Tar Heels have won three straight games by double-digit margins, including victories over Virginia and North Carolina State, since going to a smaller, quicker lineup, making them a likely NCAA Tournament team.

-- Williams College: Ranked the nation's No. 1 liberal-arts college by U.S. News and World Report, Williams finished 23-4 and is ranked No. 8 this week in Division III. However, three of those losses, including one in the conference tournament title game, were against archrival Amherst, which is No. 2 in both the liberal-arts college rankings and the Division III basketball poll.

-- Rodney Williams, Minnesota: Hampered by a shoulder injury, Williams was averaging 11.8 points before he went scoreless in limited minutes in consecutive lopsided losses to Iowa and Ohio State. The Gophers are 4-8 in their past 12 games after a 15-1 start.

Who's hot, player

-- Otto Porter Jr, Georgetown: By scoring 33 of his team's 57 points in an 11-point victory that ended Syracuse's 38-game home winning streak, Porter pushed the Hoyas to their ninth straight win and into first place in the Big East and pushed himself into the discussion for national player of the year.

Who's hot, team

-- Saint Louis: Behind interim head coach Jim Crews (he replaced Rick Majerus, who died Dec. 1) and perhaps the fastest backcourt in the country (with one guard aptly named Jordair Jett), the Billikens have won nine straight, including two over Butler and one over Virginia Commonwealth.

Local NCAA Tournament watch

Cal (18-9): The Bears would be in the NCAA Tournament at this point, thanks largely to the road win over Arizona and the two wins against Oregon, both without Dominic Artis in the Ducks' lineup. The Bears' final three games are at home; losses to Utah or Stanford would make the Bears awfully nervous heading into the Pac-12 tournament.

St. Mary's (24-5): The home win over Creighton probably would put the Gaels into the field today, but they are still on shaky ground with some conference tournament upsets almost inevitable. They did not receive berths in 2009 and 2011, when they were 25-6 and 24-8, respectively.

Stanford (16-12): Sweeping the final three regular-season games and winning a couple of games in the Pac-12 tournament conceivably could get the Cardinal into the field, but they probably need to win the conference tournament. The Cardinal have yet to reach the NCAA Tournament under fifth-year head coach Johnny Dawkins after making it in 13 of the 14 years before he arrived.